The Med Evil Virus
by Risika Tygora
Summary: When they find a new planet subject to a fatal epidemic of bacterial pneumonia, the SG-1 team takes some of the people back to get treated. The only problem is, it's not bacterial pnuemonia, it's a virus, and it's spreading.
1. The Epidemic

The Med-evil Virus

Chapter 1: The Epidemic

The SGC was getting its favorite team ready for another mission. Colonel Jack O'Neil, Captain Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c, their Jaffa friend, were going through the gate to a planet that a probe had recorded as being like Earth during its medieval times. Jack was not too thrilled about this one, but, as always, Daniel was trying to get him to stop acting so negative.

"You know, Jack, the middle ages were some of the most exciting years of our history," Daniel was saying.

"I don't know about you," Jack shot back. "But a bunch of rich guys arguing with each other isn't exactly my idea of exciting."

"It wasn't all aristocratic debating," Daniel said, sounding offended. "There was the rebellion of Scotland against English rule, and there was the French Revolution, the one that had the incident with Marie Antoinette –"

"Alright," Jack said. "I've heard enough!"

At this point, before it could get any worse, General Hammond walked in, telling them that it was time to go. Sam and T'ilk were already waiting for them. The team watched as the curtain of what looked like rippling, silvery water that was the portal formed. They walked through unflinchingly, showing the obvious fact that they had done this quite a few times before. They sped through space at an alarming rate, coming out in a forest. They were looking around in search of any close by form of civilization. The first thing that they noticed was that there appeared to be no dial-up pad, but, eventually, Sam found it. It had been forced into the ground and covered with leaves. This slightly troubled her. _Why was it hidden?_ she wondered. _And where are all of the people?_ In any case, they were soon on their way out of the woods. The closely formed canopy had shielded them from the weather, but now, they were soaked within seconds. They soon spotted a village, however, and started to head towards it as fast as they could. T'ilk stopped them.

"Wait," he said. "Are we sure that they will greet us? How did people in your past react to strangers?"

"Well," Sam began. "From what I remember in History class, middle agers were sort of judge first, ask questions later kind of people."

"Not true," argued Daniel. "It all depended on where you were. Native Americans were relatively welcoming if you didn't bring disease, but the English were more likely to accuse you of being a witch if you weren't careful."

"Were the Irish friendly?" asked Jack, noticing a Claghdah (the Irish ring, with the hands holding the heart wearing a crown) symbol above on of the house's doors.

"I don't know," admitted Daniel.

"Only one way to find out," Jack said, starting towards the village once more.

The others looked at each other and shrugged, then followed him. When they reached the village, there was no one outside. No one to greet them or turn them away, no children running around, playing, but above all, thankfully, they did not see any sign of Goa'uld activity on this planet. Had it not been for the fire that was still cooking what looked like stew under one of the canopies, they would have thought that the village was deserted. Just then, an old woman ran out of one of the houses, shouting.

"_Relno Kaa! Relno Kaa!_" she shouted, waving her arms. "Keep away! The _Relno Kaa_ has come to punish us!"

"_Relno Kaa_?" asked Daniel. "Is that a plague? We've never heard of it before."

She stopped right in front of them and stared at them. Then she said, "You must be outlanders. The _Relno Kaa_ does not like us to have contact with the outside world. We fear the forest because he dwells there, and no one has ever come back, not even the smallest child. We fear the Great Sea because he dwells there also, we are allowed only to fish for food, not to swim. One of the young girls went into the forest not too long ago. We heard something, but we weren't quite sure what it was. Since then, we have been ravaged by famine. The fish will not come to our nets. Anyone who comes in contact with us will suffer the same. There is also one more thing, almost all of the younger ones have become fatally ill, and we have no cure for them."

"We might," offered Sam. "Let us take some of them back with us, or at least let us see them."

The old woman looked nervous, but nodded and beckoned them into one of the houses. There were easily twenty children, maybe more, scattered around inside the house. All of them were coughing up what looked like yellowish-brown mucus, some were wheezing. It reminded Sam of one illness in particular, one that she had gotten as a girl –

"Pneumonia," she muttered.

"Carter, could you talk a little louder, please?" Jack said impatiently.

"It's pneumonia," she said again. "It starts off with symptoms like those of the common head cold, but, if left unattended, it can develop into something more serious. If the people are dying from it, then I think it's bacterial, in which case, we need to take at least some of these children back to the SGC and give them antibiotics. Bacterial pneumonia is one of the worst forms, it's way more lethal than a viral infection."

"Look, Carter," said Jack. "If we take these people back with us, we risk the ones at the SGC getting sick, too. General Hammond would have our hides for it!"

"Sir, with all due respect –"

"Jack," Daniel cut in. "Is it any worse to let these children die? We're more immune to it than they are. We can help them, we have to."

Jack started to walk out of the house.

"How would you feel if it was Scarra, or anyone else on Abados?" Daniel shouted after him.

"This is neither the time, nor the place to start a fight," Teal'c said to them. "I believe Captain Carter and Daniel are right. If there is anything we can do to save them, we must do it."

"Alright, alright," Jack said. "I can see I'm outnumbered. We'll take them back to the SGC. Doctor Frazier can have a look at them."


	2. What is it?

Chapter 2: "What is it?"

They took only five children back with them. When they stepped out of the stargate, the children were shivering. Obviously the trip had scared them a bit. Doctor Frazier came running out to meet them.

"Are these the children you told me about?" she asked.

"Of course they are," said Jack. "Can't see any other kids around here, can you?" Then he walked off.

"Well," said the doctor, "looks like someone's in a bad mood."

"He's just upset," Daniel told her, "because we forced him to take the kids with us."

"Oh," said Sam. "And you're saying that it has nothing to do you making him think about Scarra again. Or have you forgotten that he cares about Scarra maybe even more than himself? Or that Scarra is currently possessed by a Goa'uld?"

Daniel suddenly looked very guilty, "It was the only way to get him to bring them with us. At least it was the only way I could think of."

Before they could go any further, Doctor Frazier cut in, "Could you please help me get these children to some beds? They look really tired, we should let them rest, then I'll take a look at them, one by one."

"Of course," came Teal'c's reply (he doesn't talk all that much, does he?).

Later, after Doctor Frazier had looked at all of the children, she told them of her findings, "Well, they do all have the same illness, but as much as it appears to be bacterial pneumonia, honestly, I don't think it is. We gave them strong antibiotics, in a few days, we should start seeing results. One of the things that I noticed was that these children seemed to have a lower number of natural antibodies than anyone I've seen before. This could be like that one other place you went to before where the only ones of us that were not affected took special allergy medicine. Though, in this case, it seems as though the only ones who can get this disease have a lower number of antibodies so that their number is so few that the antibodies can't cure them on their own."

"But," began General Hammond, "if you don't think that it is pneumonia, then what is it?"

"I'm not sure," replied Frazier. "I might be wrong. We'll need to wait and see if the antibiotics work before we'll know for sure."

"Then we'll wait," said Hammond. "Dismissed."

And they all left.

A few days later, as Doctor Frazier had guessed, they had results. The problem was, the children weren't getting any better. As a matter of fact, they were actually getting worse, meaning that the disease was getting stronger. Taking another blood test, the doctor noticed that the children's antibody levels were lower than before. She did not know why, but what she did know for sure, now, was that this illness was, indeed, not bacterial pneumonia, nor was it any other kind of bacterial infection. The antibiotics would have gotten rid of it regardless. It was not cancer, she had seen that before. No, it was some kind of virus, but a virus shouldn't be fatal. Nevertheless, if these kids did not get the right medicine very soon, they would not live to see their next year.


	3. More Victims

Chapter 3: More Victims

Doctor Frazier went directly to Sam the next morning. They discussed it over and over again, Daniel even made a few suggestions as to what it might be, but they still couldn't figure out what it was. By noon, they still hadn't made any progress, so eventually, they just started throwing out random guesses. Sam had been quiet for a while now, thinking, listening to Frazier and Daniel bicker about the possibilities, when suddenly an idea came to her.

"What if –," she began, "what if the virus fed off of what would normally get rid of bacterial illnesses?"

After thinking it over, Doctor Frazier mused, "It _would_ explain why the children seem to be getting worse and why their antibody levels continue to drop."

At that moment, General Hammond walked in and, upon seeing Doctor Frazier, proceeded to say that he had been looking for her. He informed her that a few of her medical collegues had taken sick. Immediately, Frazier asked for their symptoms, and the answer she received was just what she had feared.

"They've been checked out by a few of the others," he said. "They told me that they had a form of pneumonia. I remembered what you had told us about the children, and I thought you'd like to know."

"I still need to figure out what this is," Frazier replied. "Daniel, could you do me a favor and tell them to give the sick blood tests? Tell them to look for antibody levels."

"Sure," said Daniel, and, along with Hammond, he left.

"Before, you said that only those with low antibody levels could get this disease," recalled Sam.

"Yes," said Frazier, "but I'm beginning to second guess my theory. If your right and the virus does feed off of protection against bacteria, then the children could have had normal antibody levels when they got it. What I still don't know is how to get rid of it."

"I think I might have an idea," said Sam softly. "If it's a virus, then try giving them cough or flu medicine. Those are meant to treat viruses, they might help."

"We'll give it a try," said Frazier. "In the meantime, though, I think we should close off the area that these patients are kept in. Only medical personnel should be allowed in."

Sam nodded in agreement, and the doctor left. Sam went to lay down for a while. After that, she would suggest a return trip to the planet they had found the children on to the others. They had to find out how and why the children had become sick. If they could, then maybe they could save them, as well as their own people, from slowly dying.


End file.
